For those of you that know me or follow me, which would be my two loyal followers (Tessa! and my other follower who remains anonymous), you know that I love polka dots!! In fashion they remind me of a time gone by and I am also a bit of a fan of retro rockabilly style. Plus I just find them so fun!

So in my polka dot madness I went and bought a really cute Poodle Skirt that I saw on Ebay. I have taken my polka dot fondness to new heights!

I thought that this crazy purchase deserved a layout all itself, so here it is! And yes, of course, there had to be polka dots involved in the layout.

I really had a lot of fun with this layout and actually pulled it together in under 45 minutes, a rarity for me. I didn't want a plain background so I glued some paper called BeLoved by Fancy Pants onto the Simple Stories red cardstock insert that comes with the red Sn@p binder.

Then it was just a matter of adding the picture and the title, which is simple and easy - Poodle Skirt, using polka dot letters of course!

Then a few further embellishments and stickers and voila, I'm done! Easy peasy!

I like the polka dot mad result!

The final page!

SUPPLIES | I started off by mounting paper called BeLoved by Fancy Pants from a Studio Calico kit onto the heavy cardstock inserts that come with the Simple Stories Sn@p albums, this one being from the red album and also on the backside of the layout I did for Five Guys here. I added a strip of black and white washi tape by Queen & Co. down the right hand side of the page. I added a black decorative border to the photo to make the picture pop a bit more. The polka dot puffy letters for the title are by Making Memories and oh so appropriate for this layout. All the enamel dots and the enamel love heart are by October Afternoon. The yellow chipboard circle with the (3) love hearts is by Studio Calico. The yellow "Hello" chipboard piece and the grey "like this" sticker are both Simple Stories. The red chipboard star to the left of the P in Poodle is by Simple Stories. The "Seriously" sticker and the circular sticker with the glasses are both Simple Stories DIY Boutique.

Today I just wanted or had planned to do a simple page with patterned background paper with only two pictures and a contrasting horizontal border across the middle of the page. However this page ended up taking me a bit longer than I had imagined.

As I am trying to use up a lot of my old stock I had my paper picked out and my photos laid out on the page, quite quickly, which I thought would be the biggest part of creating the layout. But I then struggled with the embellishments, what looked good and what belonged where.

I was just working with the colours within the background paper or variations of them, so mainly the grey and coral, with some accents of black. But the "final" page just didn't feel right. I say "final" because it didn't stay like that. I played around with it a bit more and felt that it needed some more colour, something brighter, a pop of colour so I thought the small teal accents would work well with the other colours.

I added a few enamel dots around the page and as well a blue phrase sticker along the bottom that read "couldn't be better". I also added some torn paper bits using the patterned paper from the horizontal border. I think it just helped balance out the page.

I like how it eventually turned out.

So much for a quick simple page!

The actual final page.

SUPPLIES | Background paper is by called Nook & Pantry by BasicGrey. The border is a dog newspaper themed paper mounted on dark red Bazzill cardstock. All the stickers, including the ones spelling out "Pie" are by Simple Stories. Chipboard love heart is by Studio Calico. The black button is by My Minds Eye. The yellow designer brad is by Basic Grey. The black arrow designer brad is by My Minds Eye from the Find Your Wings & Fly line. The alphas spelling out "Cutie" are Thickers by American Crafts called Jewelry Box.

I have been coveting a mustard yellow handbag for ages!! Simply had to have one, but let me tell you, they are like a four leaf clover or unicorn - very rare, or so it seems. There was one at Debenhams that I wanted but I couldn't bring myself to pay the kind of money that they were asking for, I won't tell you how much. I watched it for a long time, waiting for it to go in the sales and it did, but it still wasn't cheap enough. And then sadly when I went back to check on it, it had sold out. So I started searching Shopstyle.co.uk for a similar style and colour.

Right now you might be saying if I couldn't afford one at Debenhams then how could I afford a French Connection bag. Well, in the search for a new mustard yellow bag after my much coveted one at Debenhams disappeared off the market I just happened to find one through Shopstyle that was more than 70% off (which for me made it the price of a "normal" handbag) and coincidentally by French Connection. So, I grabbed it before this one disappeared too and I was happy that I did!

Right around the time that I found the handbag I also found a mustard yellow scarf on Modcloth.com that I just HAD TO HAVE!! (as I wanted one to go with the outfit I was pulling together). Plus it had polka dots and for anyone who knows me, they know that I am mad for polka dots. So it was a must have! I was a happy little camper when they both arrived and matched perfectly, as this isn't always a given when purchasing separate items over the internet.

I really enjoyed creating this layout and it came out of my head quite easily (for me that is) as it had been in there, bouncing around for a few days and was screaming to get out. I played around with some water colour paints by splattering and dripping them onto the page, not something that I use a lot in my layouts but I have to say I like the way it turned out. I guess in some ways I am quite a "traditional" scrapbooker, but worked outside of the box today. Very fun!

The bigger irony of this post is that I grew up a tomboy so had never imagined that I could get excited about a handbag and a scarf, but there you go!

SUPPLIES | Background paper is simple white Bazzill cardstock. All of the rounded edge cards are Project Life from the Sunshine line. The black polka dot paper under the word Fashion to the left of the photo is by Bella Blvd, it came from one of their "strips" paper. The black & white striped paper on the right of the photo (is a scrap) and I believe it's by Simple Stories. The black & white chipboard letters spelling out "Fashion" are by American Crafts called Kitten. The grey stickers spelling out "Style" are Simple Stories called Typeset. The enamel dots & enamel heart at the top and bottom of the page are by October Afternoon called Daily Flash, Simple Stories D.I.Y. and Twine & Ink. The black mini button brad at the top right corner of the page is by Making Memories.

I wanted to use yellow and white as my primary colours and then the black and grey as accents colours. Originally I was going to square off the rounded PL cards but once I laid it out on the page I liked the look of it so left it. I wish all my layouts were as quick as this one, that I could create it in my head and then just put it onto paper the instant I sit down at my craft table!

I really struggled with this page, went round and round with it. I wanted to keep it fairly simple in terms of colour and paper. I had originally imagined using this background page but then didn't like it and switched the paper around more than 4 or 5 times, becoming increasingly frustrated. Nothing seemed to work, nor did the embellishments I was laying down on the paper. It just didn't feel right. Funnily enough I ended up back on this paper.

Being American and having been to Five Guys in the US I am quite familiar with them but Simon had yet to experience the greatness of Five Guys. I had heard one had opened in London but that was a long way to go for a cheeseburger, even though they are that good. So I was really pleased when I heard that one had opened in Reading, which is just down the road for us. We go to The Oracle (a shopping centre) there in Reading quite often to the cinema so I thought that one night before the movies we would pop over to try out Five Guys.

I have to admit it was nice to see something familiar "from home" and it's at times like these that I then do long for home ground. Although I was taking him there to experience the cheeseburgers I just couldn't resist and ordered myself a hotdog instead. I LOVE hotdogs (and yes I know how awful they are for me) but they are something that always reminds me of home and my childhood. Plus they are pretty much non-existent in this country. Whenever we go to a faire or carnival I get excited when I see the burger vans that are also advertising "hotdogs". Typically though it is quite disappointing as it is usually just a sausage masquerading as a hotdog in a bread roll. I think they need to learn the concept of what a hotdog is, which I'm sure Five Guys could set them straight on, as well as great All American burgers!

Simon had the cheeseburger with loads of extras and couldn't get it down fast enough. It was so delicious and I was even cheeky enough to ask for a bite as I simply couldn't resist. Its nice to know that there is now one so close to us and would like to say that we will be going back ALL the time, but I suppose they probably aren't the best for your waistline. However, I will be savouring them on the occasions that we do go back!

SUPPLIES | Background page is the hard card inserts that come with the Simple Stories Sn@p albums, this one came with the red album. The letter stickers spelling out Five Guys are by Simple Stories - the small ones called Typeset and the large simply Letters. The 5 of Hearts playing card is a real card from a deck of cards we picked up at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The pink 5 cent ticket is by Recollections which I think I purchased at Michael's while in the states. The square metal tag next to it is by American Crafts and is ancient. The 5 ticket on the right side of the cheeseburger photo is also by Recollections. The yellow "Cheese" stickers is by Simple Stories. The curly arrow is by Simple Stories from their new DIY Boutique line. The numbers at the bottom are by Simple Stories - Letters. "Today's Story" is the paper name strip cut off the bottom of paper by Echo Park from their original Photo Freedom (?) kit. The red "Heart this" sticker is by Simple Stories.

This layout is about none other than Rupert! A subject that I so rarely choose to scrap about. Ha, you say!

When we go to the park for his walks one of his favourite games is Tug of War! Thought it would be cute to take a couple pictures and document this.

Actually, thinking about it, it is dependent on his moods believe it or not. If he is quite wound up and full of endless energy, he will want to rampantly play a relentless game of fetch. However, if he is feeling slightly agitated or annoyed then fetch is off the table and instead he wants to play tug of war with his stick of choice and he can be quite tenacious about it. His walk isn't complete without either a game of fetch or tug of war, usually the latter.

I wanted to use the green Simple Stories paper as my background paper as I thought it would mirror the colour of the grass nicely. However I wanted to add a bit more colour to the layout and thought the strip of the PL Blush 4x6 card sticking out along the right side of the photo would do nicely. I then noticed that the "Good Story" 3x4 card in the same line would go well with the colours on the 4x6 card. So I stuck this along the top of the pocket, between the picture and the background paper.

SUPPLIES USED | The lime green background paper is by Simple Stories from the DIY Boutique line called Boutique Stripes Green and is doubled sided with black & white lines on the other side. I then mounted the photo onto a PL Blush card which I then mounted on the green paper. On the top, on the left, is a "tab" of the top of PL card from the same Blush line. The "Life is Good" sticker is by Bella Blvd from their Alpha bits line, this one called Thankful designed by Stephanie Hunt. The blue and pink stars are by Studio Calico. The stickers spelling out "Tug" are by Simple Stories called Sn@p Stickers Letters. The green "of" letters are by LilyBee Designs from the Sweet Shoppe line and the letters spelling out "War" are by the same.

With the letter stickers and the stars for the title I wanted to bring out the colours from the PL card so chose colours that would compliment it or were similar to them. I like how it all came together. I then added one further sticker "Life is Good" by Bella Blvd along the bottom of the pic.

Christine/American Girl living in England

About Me

This is the story of my journey through life……..hopefully done with a little bit of creativity, pretty paper and glitter. I have always been “crafty”, drawn to things like felt, construction paper and Elmer’s glue from a very young age! Trying my hand at activities such as art, drawing, painting, music, creative writing and let’s not forget photography. My LOVES: Paper of course, pink & black, anything retro, travel, my crazy JRT Rupert, English summers, lazy afternoons & quite recently fashion, more specifically the Retro & Vintage fashion world and scene,can you dig it (having formerly been a tomboy). Happy that you could drop by to visit my small corner of the blogosphere!